We Regret To Inform You
by Kulmanari
Summary: How much those five words can hurt...


Broken…

A dream trampled by the unyielding feet of society, crushed underfoot and ground into dust. Everything that he had ever aspired to be since childhood had been taken from him on the day all of his hard work should have paid off. Just like that, his life was over. There was no going forward and no going back. All that was left to him was the misery of life and the sour taste of failure.

Where had it all gone wrong? He racked his brain for answers and came up empty handed. His attendance records were nearly flawless; his grades a shining example of perfection among the dregs of society. Every award had been his for the taking; every scholarship he was eligible for had been seized by the horns and added to his college fund. Letters of recommendation, countless hours of community service, internships and connections in the land of higher education… What was it all for?

What was he supposed to do now? Start out his adult life with some crummy job in the city? He held no illusions as to the prospects of employment. It was true he was an extremely bright person, but he had no marketable job skills for what little was available to him. He shuddered at the thought of eking out a living doing some demeaning task he once had thought was far below him.

Fresh tears burned down his cheeks and the letter of rejection blurred in his vision. Several choice words such as 'we regret to inform you' and 'has been rejected' swam in front of his eyes driving his failure deeper into an already wounded heart. It was through that opening of sorrow and self pity that a wave of hatred entered.

The rejection letter made a satisfying crunching noise as his fist crumpled it into a wad of paper. His entire arm shook with fury. How dare they do this to him! After all he'd done and accomplished! Like a pot full of boiling water, his rage continued to build up pressure until it could be contained no more and needed to be released.

Cody Martin shot to his feet, gritted his teeth, drew his right arm back and hurled the offending letter against the wall with an angry bellow. Before it had even hit the ground he pounced upon it, stomping on the wadded up paper with ruthless force tearing it into several large pieces. When his shoes could do no more damage, he fell to his knees and began ripping the remaining pieces to shreds.

Satisfied that he had shown the rejection letter who was boss, his rage left him and was replaced by the realization of how immature his actions were. Depression followed quickly on the heels of this sudden understanding and he pounded his fists on the carpet of his bedroom as he leaned forward and set his head on the floor.

"It's not fair!" Cody shrieked before he was suddenly overcome by a fit of hiccups.

He soon became aware of a presence sitting alongside of him and a hand reached out to gently rub his back. Cody picked his head up and looked over into the blue-green eyes of his twin. Zack had been present in their shared bedroom at the Tipton the entire time Cody had been on his short lived rampage, but had chosen to remain silent and let the younger twin release his pent up emotions. Now, sensing the unspoken need for comfort, he came forward to lend his support.

It was a rare display from Zack, who often hid his true emotions behind his flippant attitude and witty jokes. Stanger still was the fact that he even had any empathy of his own to lend Cody after having been dumped by Maya Benet less than forty eight hours earlier on the day of their High School Graduation. Zack was a wreck, moping around the suite completely at a loss of what to do with himself now that the only girl he had ever truly been involved with was lost to him.

"Screw them," Zack said softly, jerking his head towards to the shreds of paper, "Who do they think they are anyway?"

"They're Yale Zack! The best of the best…" Cody whimpered as he turned away, unable to look at his brother any longer. He wished Zack would just leave him alone to wallow in his own self pity.

"Yeah, ok," He snorted derisively and then quickly held up his other hand to forestall the retort that was already forming, "If they really were the best, you would be there with Bailey."

Cody sensed only complete sincerity and care in his brother's tone and marveled that Zack could actually be kind if he wanted to be. His heart warmed in response to the vote of confidence and he was surprised at how much Zack's opinion of him mattered. Taking the offer for what it was Cody sat up alongside Zack and let himself be drawn into a one armed hug.

"You're a great brother Zack."

"I don't know why you say that like it surprises you!" Zack jabbed, some of his witty humor returning to bring a small smile to Cody's face, "I've always been great!"

"You've always had a funny way of showing it," Cody retorted. Zack gave him a hurt look.

"Oh come on Cody, you don't need to go to Yale to be the first doctor-lawyer in space. What about Harvard? What's wrong with going there or to any other big college for that matter?"

"It's just not the same…"

"Isn't it? They're all just a means to an end aren't they?" Cody marveled at the wisdom of his brother's words and began to reconsider his options. Going to Harvard wouldn't be such a bad thing really. Heck, he knew that the Dean of Admissions thought highly of his intellect regardless of the little dating snafu that had occurred between the twins and the Dean's daughter.

"You're right Zack," Cody finally admitted after a moment of consideration, "I have other options!"

"Alright, now that that's settled…" Zack playfully slapped his chest mid-sentence, "Let's go down and grab some hot dogs!"

"Hot dogs?" Cody repeated in confusion.

"Yeah man, all this drama is making me hungry."

Cody shook his head in wonder.

Some things never changed.

* * *

><p>Fin.<p>

Graduation on Deck left so many things unresolved. I understand why Disney did it (to leave it open to the fandom and the imagination of the viewers), but it also left me unsatisfied. This is my take of how Cody coped with the rejection to Yale.

~ Kul


End file.
